HARLINGEN, Tex., Dec. 21 (AP) — A judge in a Texas widow’s lawsuit over the Merck drug Vioxx reduced a $32 million jury award to about $7.75 million on Thursday so that it conformed to state law.

A state jury in April found Merck liable for the death in 2001 of Leonel Garza, a 71-year-old man who had a fatal heart attack within a month of taking the painkiller, which has since been withdrawn.

After the verdict was issued, the company was ordered to pay the Garza family $7 million in noneconomic compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages.

But Judge Alex W. Gabert, in a Rio Grande City courtroom, ordered the punitive damage reduced to conform to a 2003 Texas law that caps punitive damages at twice the amount of economic damages — lost pay — and up to $750,000 on top of noneconomic damages.

Because Mr. Garza was retired, the jury awarded no economic damages, so Merck was ordered to pay the most the family could receive under state law.

Merck, which is based in Whitehouse Station, N.J., argued during the trial that Mr. Garza had a 23-year history of heart disease beginning with a quadruple bypass in 1989 and had taken Vioxx only 17 days.

Mr. Garza’s lawyers said he had just been told his veins had been cleared and that a stress test showed less than a 2 percent risk of heart attack within a year.

A plaintiff’s lawyer, Luis Cardenas, said the plaintiffs were pleased with the judge’s decision.